1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to heat sink assemblies for use with electronic devices having pins adapted for connection to a circuit board and, more particularly, to means for supporting a relatively massive heat sink for electronic devices such that the pins and their connections to the circuit board are substantially isolated from forces related to the mass of the heat sink.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many applications of electronic circuits, substantial heat is generated during operation and must be efficiently removed from the electronic devices in order to avoid overheating of the devices and resulting failure or improper operation. One popular and effective way of removing heat is to mount a heat generating electronic device in intimate heat exchange relationship with a heat sink capable of rapidly conducting heat away from the electronic device. Heat sinks are commonly relatively massive blocks of heat conducting metal having heat radiating fins or the like. In practice, heat sinks may have much greater mass than the electronic devices, such as integrated electronic circuits, from which they are conducting heat. In most electronic circuits, this situation does not create problems. However, in consumer electronic products such as portable radios and portable combination radio/tape players and recorders, the product is often subjected to substantial and sometimes vigorous movement, such as might occur if the consumer swings the product back and forth in time with music being played over the product. If in such a product an integrated circuit or the like has its output pins or leads connected to a circuit board by conventional techniques such as dip soldering and a massive heat sink is mounted on and supported by the integrated circuit, large forces resulting from acceleration and deceleration of the heat sink will be transmitted to the pins and their connections to the circuit board. Since the pins of such electronic devices are relatively delicate, they can be easily broken or torn loose as a result of even moderate motion of the product, the result being failure of the product. This problem can be overcome by mounting the electronic device on an independently supported heat sink, and then connecting its pins or leads to the remainder of the circuit by means of discretely wired flexible connectors. While this solution prevents the placing of significant stress on the pins, it is not entirely satisfactory, however, in that it does not take advantage of modern, high production techniques for inexpensively and reliably connecting the pins directly to the circuit board and the circuitry provided thereon.